WHAT'S GOING ON

WEDNESDAY - last day of July 2019. It's been a busy month -- Oklahoma musician Chloe-Beth Campbell performed at the Chaparral Retreat; Kory Quinn from Oregon played at the Whirlwind Winery, and Merry Ellen Kirk played at the Chaparral Retreat on a Sunday afternoon. There were fireworks in town on the 4th, and more at Roman Nose State Park on July 6. Our rooms were full at the Retreat most of the month with new visitors to our area celebrating anniversaries and birthdays, and friends from Tulsa.

The WATONGA ARTWORKS on Main St. has been open on Saturday afternoons for "Community Art Club", a couple of hours when anyone can come in and use our art supplies to be creative.  We've had children from age 3 to 13 each Saturday.  

I led the 4-H group in a painting session, and suggested a "space" theme in honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing and first man to step on the surface of the moon.  Each child painted something different and they were very creative -- I look forward to seeing their works displayed at the upcoming Blaine County Fair in August.

Phoenix Circle Foundation is also continuing our work to encourage recycling, reduce waste, and got volunteers to help with our GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP effort at Roman Nose State Park.  We had several more volunteers than last year come out to help this past spring, and more and more residents are using the Keep Oklahoma Beautiful recycling bins we have placed at the State Park General Store.  AND, we are excited to get permission from the Airport manager to place a recycling bin in their office.    I saw Jena and Shane Ohman going along the right-of-way along Hwy 8 one day, picking up trash from along the highway, and stopped to thank them!    The Lend-a-Bin program through Keep Oklahoma Beautiful is sponsored by Pepsico; Andy and I collect plastic and aluminum cans from the bins and take them to the Weatherford recycling center regularly.  

I attended a workshop put on by Keep Oklahoma Beautiful with speakers from OG&E, DEQ, Koch Communications, Republic Services, and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.  These workshops are free and there is always great useful information provided, in addition to networking opportunities.  A special surprise guest speaker showed up at this seminar - former Governor George Nigh! 

There is lots of other stuff to tell you about what's going on in Watonga ... some of the usual and some new things going on, but my eyes are tired so I'll write more later.  HAVE A GREAT DAY and try to stay cool!!

/Linda Barrett